Holmes, Herbie (Herbert Payne)
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Holmes, Herbie (Herbert Payne) Musician Content: • Newspaper clippings • Images • Email exchange between several people looking for information regarding Holmes • Magazine feature • Excerpts from "The Big Bands";"The Mississippi Almanac"; "Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame" Location: Vertical Files at B.S. Ricks Memorial Library of the Yazoo Library Association| 310 N. Main Street, Yazoo City, Mississippi 39194 .■■j.-lH-" ! • ' T ■ r / ANNUAL TRAVEL EDITION MARGJI Al'RIl, Kuiii Herb Hot Claire Wctycaster ■ t Natchez 2..;, 11950 n g!STa«.l«VI bbsi's vmm ■•i-s>lo-^. v>=n."=;;;;rMD««" s;."« Svp..^ cn'.' : 00CO r.i* i- raahion CORPORM*?^ rw.«w2w«! gardens of some of the finest hotels in and Loew's Slate Theater sponsored a at the w.ndmill Club across the river the country is a notable chapter in Mis vocal competition. The first prize was a from Vicksburg in Louisiana. sissippi musical history. trip to New York, an audition at the NBC Holmes began to look for other vocalists studios, and a guest appearance on the Eddie Cantor radio program. Holmes erbie Holmes was at the Windmill. ° graduating from high won. y/ie Cof/imerdal Ap/jealquoted him Delta State University coed Nancy school in Yazoo City the on his return: "Cantor's a prince of a year of the crash, 1929. fellow and the best of hosts." li"™"a ent igi 5°'^Pet.itiondecided to while enter visit- the He was affable, attractive, The Mississippians continued to play mg her aunt ,n Vick,,burg. Huron and intelligent. His father, president of and develop through 1934 and 1935 Hutchersou of Jack,so„, who is now the Delta National Bank, had in his Jackson real estate developer Army reured from a Navy career, played piano younger years starred in blackface Brown joined the band that spring. "I and saxophone ,n the band. He minstrel shows. Holmes's mother was playing in some of the little dance remembers, Herbie called me and said played violin and piano. His sister, bands around Jackson," he recalls. he had talked wi h a girl and that he was Katie, played piano and organ in the "Some of the Ole Miss musicians would just captured by her voice from just talk- Episcopal Church. come down here when school was out nig with her. We got together and she Holmes's budding interest in music and play the hotels. I got to be friends sang a couple of tunes and from then involved studying piano and voice, and with some of them. A mt nth before <^n she was bis singer." Holmes and several of the band mem he played in a little high .school band. Nancy had a captivating ^ He enrolled at the University of Missis bers were to graduate in 1935,1 went up ^vith a siiltr)'- lull tone that was clear and sippi and joined the college orchestra. and joined the Mississippians. We went fircy. She recalls, "I had a piano scholar- The Mississippians, which he began to on the road, and when school was about ^'^ip to Brenau, a girls' school in Atlam- lead. He was featured vocalist and, as to begin in the fall, several went back to school and we kept pla)ing. We added but I never went, i started singing\vith evident in later recordings, was develop Ucrbic's band. ing a voice of long-staple silk with a more musicians from time to time. We In the winter of I935, the band sio-,, n pronounced Delta accent. Mu.sically, had musicians from all over the ^^'th Music Corporation of AnJrir^. the Mississippians were a strong ag countiy." Brown wrote arrangements and played guitar for the orchestra. gregation of savxy young players focu-s- "ht? ^ountiW' ^be agencybooking manaQ-cri agencies in1 ing on the stock charts ofihe day. They During that first summer, the Herbie cellar rnlent as Basit'"-;!::;;^; were a popular attraction at college Holmes Orchestra wa.s becoming a functions around the state. prolessional unit. They played the ■imbardo. The boost 1.,,^ , i„g During Holmes's Junior year, the American Legion State Convention in nto such a national network was NBC radio tifllliaie in Memphis, WMC, Tupelo and then became a regular act trcmcndons. A Dallas cngagcmen, at 38 M.\RCM/APRn. UH«) the Samovar Club lasted six weeks. This began a busy year of louring the Mid west. Brown recalls, "1 remember how impressed wiih Dallas we were. Me and several of the others were married. My wife and I had this little makeshifl apart ment in somebody's house where our rent was S3.50 a week and groceries cost us S3.50 a week. I was making S25 a week, and the others got S20. I was making $5 extra being kind of tlie musi- #E'LL PLAY YOUR REQUESTS -Ni^tclubs like this one in Widiita iff y<M/U a 0as, boosted Holmes's band IiOga. Herbie HOLMES and his ORCHESTRA mlh HANCY HDTSON Buy a Dollar's Worth {or More} of War Savings Stamps from H" ancy Hulson. We'll try to play any Request Song, old or new. If we do, you buy the Stamps. Ifwe can't, tve buy them- (Judo Sam wins either way. ■J. cal director." . Though MCA's huge roster of ta e began as a boon for the orchestra, its ^07 acts made individual attention m Holmes's band impossible. gi"oup became more popular, focused agencies began courting ' _ fn April 1937. Frederick Brothers Musi Corporation of Cleveland was Consolidated Artists for senices. They wrote: "I think you t ^y understand that we could give you mo^^ personal representation than ^'se, as wc, naturally, would regai y and your band as one of our top hons and would immediately pl'^ce ) un some better engagements 7"" have been playing." Holmes g ^ith the Frederick Brothers and oegan playing more lucrative and fashionable TheVenues. band began changing, maturing, adjusting away from being a coUcp^^Uf^ band toward a stvle swing band. ^nd lasi-paccd. Crosby, brother of Bing, led popular BobCats. their energetic treatment of jazz. With the introduction of other players fi-om around the country, the Dixieland music ripened. MISSIS-SIPPl 39 radio broadcasts on a regular basis. A MOnuaY .4ILiHT more mellow approach-music for dining and dancing-was necessary for this market. Fresh From State-tuicle Triumph The Frederick Brothers were haring Hcriiiu ami EUilic Cantor great success with a band led by a man named Lawrence Welk, and though Welk was advised to watch Holmes's -'H emcee techniques. Holmes was en couraged to emulate Welk's musical style. The issue was forced in late 1939 OLE MISS at the Chase Hotel in St. Louis Bassist Fay Anderson from Yazoo City joined the band in 1938. Now a resident of Lonoke,^ kansas, where he operates the world s largest minnow hatchery, he remembers, The Frederick Brothers showed up at the hotel, and when that happened, it usually meant a problem. Holmes took Hete i'orb - also Hettn Bishop Herbie came around and told us there took Miss. was going to be a meeting. We all got AN ABSOLUTELY NEW and ORIQINAL PROQRAM BY together and the Frederick Brothers told us that we had gone as far as we the mi SSISSiPPi ANS could go as a Dixieland band.They said. HERBIE holmes • HELEN BISHOP You are ma mg all money that you can ma e. e have placed you in all the See Holmes Qo "Fisher" 'tehiJe good Dixieland clubs that we can, and "Diick" Hwtchersoti pla>s Indian Chic/; to make any real money, you have to change the style of the band.'" "Deacon" Corley with a New Text .. Holmes, this was a tough .... and John Htierle hunts "Qoons" decision. He was a crooner, with a voice perfectly tailored for the sweeter music SENSATIONAL COLLEGIATE ENTERTAINMENT suggested by the Frederick Brothers. His sonorous speaking voice made him a captivating emcee. Nancy's warm styl FULTOK CHAPEL - - 7:45 ing was also correct for the grand hotels and mellow evening radio. On the Admissicq 25c other hand. Holmes had great respect for the band's jazz players. They had been receiving ovenvhelming response from club audiences and were routinely t the helm, Holmes made breaking attendance records. But the sound business decisions. Frederick Brothers also had great He was always looking for power as booking agents and had kept that little something that the band working when other bands would enrich their presen were in a panic. Holmes decided to go tation. He adopted the slogan, "Music along with his management. Served Southern-Style." The press In retrospect, it was certainly the cor referred to him as The Young Maestro rect decision. The new arranger, Roy from the Mis,sissippi Delta." Three Coates, added strings and restyled the years into their touring, the Herbie Hol horns with emphasis on .seamless, ril> mes Band was a tight, popping jazz or bonlike figures with the tenor ganization. saxophone setting the tone. One paper The Fred crick Brothers kept reported, "dheu-management informs Holmes's orchestra booked solid, with us that the Herbie Holmes Orchestra is great receptions at the Adolphus in Dal now strictly in die Forties style with the las as well as a long engagement at the mellow soimd; no more of the pot boi]. Pla/.a Roof in San Antonio. Holmes ing swan karoos. Nancy, and the orchestra ushered in The ja/.^- members scattered. Horh New Year 1939 with a live national radio Tompkin.s weni to New York and joim^d broadcast from the Fdgewaier Beach the L.cs Brown Orchestra.